


The Praxis

by notfreyja



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notfreyja/pseuds/notfreyja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel's didn't have soul inscriptions. How could they, they didn't have wrists for them to be on. Dean wasn't thinking of this the day that he saw "Amelia" written on Castiel's wrist, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is for you, Freshman.

Like most children, Dean Winchester doesn't remember the day that he bought his first bracelet. Though, to be more accurate, he does not remember the day that his mother took him to pick out his first bracelet. This is because (just like most children) Mary took him the month before he began preschool when he was three in order to get him accustomed to covering his soul inscription before it became inappropriate to show it.

The shopping trip was perfectly ordinary in every way. Dean hid behind his mother's leg as she purchased the small circlet of colorful plastic that he'd picked out. The clerk made polite comments about how lovely the jewelry wold look. His mother told him how he was a big boy now as she fastened the clasp, covering the pristine cursive name on the inside of his wrist.

In fact, the whole outing was so stereo-typically normal that it almost figures that nothing else about Dean's soul inscription would be even close to ordinary at all.

Mary didn't know how out of the ordinary her son's journey to find his soul mate would be. There was no way she could have known. After all, _Castiel_ was such an uncommon name; she figured that Dean ought to have a relatively easy time finding his destined. It was the general opinion that those born with unique names on their wrists were the lucky ones. Those names  _stood out._ Much easier to find a  _Castiel_ that it would be to find an  _Eric_ or a  _Lisa._

Which was true. And also another reason that it was considered socially unacceptable to have a bare wrist in public. It often led to bickering over how much easier someone else's soul mate would be to find than one's own.

So Dean Winchester may not have remembered the day he bought his first bracelet, but he never forgot the reason for the trip.

He grew up with his wrist covered, the fragile script hidden away from the world. Hidden from his girlfriends, his boyfriends, his best friends. When most children broke the unwritten rule to compare their soul inscriptions to that of their friend's, Dean kept his bracelet firmly affixed to his wrist.

He kept the identity of his soul mate so private - so well hidden - that not even Sam could tell the name on his brother's wrist, even if his life depended on.

So Dean spent his life thinking himself lucky. Thinking that one day he would meet some person named Castiel and that it would be effortless. It would be easy. There were so few Castiels in the world that it had to be the first one that he meets that is meant for him. And they would match (they had to match) and his Castiel would have finally met the right Dean.

Not once in his entire life did Dean ever even consider that it would be less than perfect when he finally met the person meant just for him.

In hindsight, he should have known better. Nothing was ever easy for a Winchester.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like your present so far, Freshman.

Angels did not give much thought to the interrupted lives of their vessels.

Humans may have been their father's favorite children, but as individuals they were utterly dull and petty. They were obsessed with imaginary people in the television, for goodness sake.

They were impulsive, reckless, violent mud-monkey's.

Their only redeeming quality might be the soul inscriptions. Though angels weren't sure where they came from, they were certainly glad that they were there. Imagine the drama fest that the human race would be if no one had even the slightest clue who their soul mate was? Imagine the competitions and the betrayals. It would have been horrible.

So while the heavenly host may not have known what power was responsible for the names upon each human's wrist, they were certainly glad that they were there. All angels respected them, took them as gospel fact.

Therefore even though angels did not particularly care for the humans that they possessed, they did always promise to see to the safety of their vessel's soul mate; this was the most sacred of vows one could make to their vessel, and any who broke it were often treated as criminals by the host. To harm any vessels soul mate, even that of another angel, was unthinkable.

It might have been out of respect to the slightly less flawed souls within the humans' bodies. However, there were some that had a different theory. There was a small sect pf the host that believed that angels respected the soul inscriptions so much because they were  _envious._ The celestial beings did not have souls. All of their being and consciousness (their faith and devotion and fear alike) all held withing their grace. And if one did not have a soul, how could they have a soul  _mate?_

Of course, there were legends, myths. Stories of angels who felt an unmistakable bond to each other, or even a human. Tales of fancy about fallen angels having names fade into the wrists of their new bodies.

But it was only that: a legend. Nobody, angelic or otherwise, had anything to back up their validity.

But there were few in the host that longed for those tales to ring true. That ached for such an intimate connection. With their Father gone missing, a few of his children wished for someone to put their faith into, to love with all of their being.

But angels had no souls.

The names upon their wrists when on Earth belonged to their vessel, not them, that was painfully obvious. And most angels eventually got over the longing, dismissed it as the flight of fancy that it clearly was. But there were a couple,  _just_ a couple that never let it go, never stopped feeling the ache deep within their very grace.

Castiel was one of those angels. 


End file.
